During the period in which Uber operated self-driving cars in California without a permit, a bystander observed an Uber vehicle run a red light without stopping. Uber initially claimed the incident was human error. But the self-driving car was in fact driving itself, according to two Uber employees and based on Uber documents viewed by the New York Times.
Refused to obtain California DMV permit for driverless testing
In December 2016, Uber began testing self-driving cars in California. But it failed to obtain a $150 permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles — not a clerical error, but instead an affirmative decision not to obtain such a permit because, Uber leaders claimed, their vehicles did not require such a permit. Thus Uber launched its self-driving pilot without notifying state regulators.
The Verge summarizes:
“In their minds, they really thought they weren’t autonomous,” Jessica Gonzalez, assistant deputy director of public affairs at the DMV, told The Verge. “But we decide what’s autonomous. And under our regulations, it was.”
The core of the disagreement was whether Uber’s vehicles constituted “autonomous vehicle” under California law. Uber claimed that its cars required a human being in the driver’s seat, hence were not autonomous. But California law defined autonomous based on technology (“any vehicle equipped with technology that has the capability of operating or driving the vehicle without the active physical control or monitoring of a natural person”, emphasis added), not just usage.
Contrary to Anthony Levandowski’s email to regulators that “We don’t do AV testing,” The Verge also reported evidence that the Uber vehicles were in fact used in autonomous mode. For one, The Verge re ports its staff riding in the back seat of one of Uber’s self-driving SUVs in San Francisco prior to the public launch in December. The Verge also reports that its reporters sat behind the driver’s seat while the vehicle drove itself. The Verge explains:
In both cases, the vehicle drove itself for long stretches of the trip, deftly handling intersections, bridges, and pedestrians without human intervention. There were times when a chime would sound, signaling the driver to take control. But other than that, the car was capable of operating “without the physical control or monitoring of a natural person,” as stipulated under the law.
The idea behind these public demonstrations was to prove that Uber’s self-driving vehicles were capable of handling dense urban environments, in anticipation of one day being capable of operating without a steering wheel, pedals, or even a human in the driver’s seat.
After the dispute became public, Uber removed its vehicles from California and began testing in Arizona instead.
Jeff Jones criticized Uber as he left
Jeff Jones, Uber’s president of ride sharing, left the company in March 2017 after just six months. He had been poached from Target to be Uber’s second-highest executive. In a statement upon his departure, Jonas criticized Uber’s culture:
The beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president of the ride sharing business.
Kalanick criticized SVP of Communications Rachel Whetstone
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 289) reports Travis Kalanick’s harsh words to SVP of Communications Rachel Whetstone. Under pressure from video showing Kalanick arguing with a driver, Kalanick sought to hire outside PR advisors, telling Whetstone and a colleague “You two aren’t strategic or creative enough to help us get out of this situation.” Whetstone and the colleague left the meeting and planned to quit, though others later convinced them to stay.
Fallout from Fawler report of toxic culture
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 270) describes the response to ex-employee Susan Fawler’s blog about her experience at Uber:
Of all the scandals Uber had suffered to date, this Fowler memo struck the company the hardest. Chat rooms were in chaos. Email chains to leadership from angry employees were filled with demands and more allegations. Fowler’s memo was just the beginning. Her post had burst open a dam, through which now flowed a river of pent-up employee complaints, years in the making. Worse, for Travis, employees began airing some of their bad Uber experiences in public, on Twitter.
“This is outrageous and awful. My experience with Uber HR was similarly callous & unsupportive,” tweeted Chris Messina, another Uber employee who had recently left the company. “In Susan’s case, it was reprehensible.”
No jackets for female employees
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 268) describes an Uber team that was buying leather jackets for employees. With 120 men, they could get a group discount on mens’ jackets — but no such discount was available for the 6 women on the team. As a result, the team didn’t buy jackets for its six female members.
Uber Xchange leases to marginal drivers
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 265) describes perils in Uber’s Xchange program, in which Uber provided vehicles to high-risk driver with poor or nonexistent credit. One, these drivers had disproportionate rates of safety incidents including speeding tickets and sexual assaults. Two, dealerships were pushing these drivers into expensive leases that lowered profits for both drivers and Uber — causing Uber to lose more than $9,000 per vehicle. Furthermore vehicles were returned in far worse condition than anticipated.
Sent free iPhone 4s to prospective drivers (and scammers)
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 264) reports that Uber’s early effort to provide free iPhones to drivers went amiss when some employees sent phones before drivers passed background checks or completed paperwork. With Uber sending phones in advance, fraudsters could submit bogus applications — and keep the iPhones.
Surge malfunction on Halloween 2014
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 262) reports a malfunction of Uber’s surge pricing system on Halloween 2014, wildly overcharging people on an especially busy night. Some riders were charged as much as $360 for rides that evening.
#deleteUber campaign
Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped (p. 254) describes users’ online protest against Uber, inspired by Uber’s apparent refusal to honor a taxi strike in response to a Trump travel ban. Chicago writer Dan O’Sullivan Tweeted “congrats to @Uber_NYC on breaking a strike to profit off of refugees being consigned to Hell”, then “Don’t like @Uber’s exploitative anti-labor policies & Trump collaboration, now profiting off xenophobia? #deleteUber.” O’Sullivan then pointed out the surprisingly difficult task of deleting an Uber account.
Tens of thousands joined the #deleteUber protest, often posting screenshots of their account deletions. Within a week, more than 500,000 people deleted their Uber accounts, while others removed the app from their phones.